When Roko stepped into his first class, the eyes of everyone turned to look at him with a prodding curiosity. Attention was never something that Roko had experience with so he quickly scurried off to the farthest corner of the room and sat down, trying not to make eye contact with anyone. Everyone eventually returned to their pre-class chatter though Roko dared not listen in just in case any of the discussions were about him. Which seemed highly likely. Taking a few glances around the class, the room was indeed full of young ladies, all of whom emanated some form of royalty or dignity. Some of them placed their royal status foremost, looking as if they belonged on the court of a castle. While some of them looked no different from normal girls of their age. And at the very back of the room, standing stoically in intimidating armor, were a collection of knights all of whom were glaring all around the room in search of any danger. Their presence alone slowly let the hidden reality of the situation sink in. Despite how carefree the princesses act, any mistake could lead to an international incident. And as much as he felt disconnected from it all, Roko was very aware that he could get embroiled in this political battlefield mixed with school drama.
"This school might not have been the best idea." Roko muttered.
Just as the chatter seemed to return to normal, Kress walked in with his usual smile and everyone settled down and returned to their seats without direction from the teacher.
"Now." Kress began addressing the class, "I'm sure you all have noticed a peculiar addition to the room. I'm sure that with enough time you all can get acquainted. However, for the time being, let us all give him some space. Now, today we'll be studying the proper etiquette for sitting at a banquet."
Roko buried his head in his arms. When they said they were going to give him a full schedule, they meant ALL the classes. Even etiquette classes. Of all things Roko had taken classes for, he never imagined he would need etiquette lessons. Resigned to his fate of doing nothing for the better part of an hour, Roko pulled out the small notebook he had been given at his request and began reviewing the information he had learned about the world since he got here. He did the same during the embroidery classes and did his best to hide in the corner when dance class rolled around to little success. At last, after a quick lunch break, the magic class he had requested from the beginning arrived and he took his usual seat at the corner in the back of the classroom. This time, his attempts at being incognito were squarely thwarted when someone slammed a pouch of cookies on his desk.
"I got those cookies I promised you!" Helena grinned as she spoke loudly, drawing the attention of everyone else in the room, "They're chocolate chip!"
"Thanks." Roko sighed as he tried to ignore all the attention he was getting.
"Try one!" Helena said, "I tried something different with these ones!"
As Roko took out one of the cookies, Helena continued her loud conversation, "Man, isn't it funny how we got the same magic class together? None of my roommates ever share classes with me."
Roko coughed as he finished eating one of the cookies, "D-*cough* Did you run out milk chocolate chips and ended up using dark chocolate chip so you decided to offset it with more sugar?"
"Yeah!" Helena gasped, "How'd you know?!"
"It's kinda obvious." Roko grimaced, "Also, you broke some of these cookies."
"Oh really?"
"Hey!" One of the knights stepped up to them with an unreasonably angry expression on his face, "Watch what you say about Lady Helena's cookies! She is the heir to the Hellestia Nation!"
"Roland, stop." Helena sighed.
"But milady, he is clearly unworthy of your cookies!"
"Roland, you're making a scene."
"If I may, you were the one who started making a fuss with how loud you are."
"I am not loud!"
Roland just stared at her quizzically.
"Okay maybe I am a little." Helena muttered.
"Milady, you spent all night making these cookies remember? And here is this peasant, clearly disrespecting your efforts with his clear lack of taste."
"Roland, he's still eating the cookies."
"Don't mind me." Roko said as he munched on the cookies, "This is just popcorn for the fight."
"I'll show you a fight!" Roland growled as his hand went for his sword.
"Roland! No!" Helena cried as she grabbed Roland's arm, stopping him from drawing the sword completely, "Stop this! Do you even understand what attacking a special guest of the school means?!"
Before any further arguing could be done, the door opened and a woman with an intense look of contempt walked in and threw her lesson plans on her desk.
"All of you, sit down."
Roland and Helena quickly scurried back to their positions as the class turned their attention back to the front of the classroom.
"Now." The woman sighed, "I got your test results back. And a lot of you...did not pass."
A murmur rose among the classroom but the teacher cut in through the discussions, "So! I believe a review is in order. From the very beginning."
At her words, a loud cacophony of protests overwhelmed the class.
"But Ms. Edea, we don't need to be taught from the very beginning!"
"Yeah!" Another cried, "The only one who needs to taught this is the new guy!"
"I don't know what you're talking about." Edea scoffed.
"That guy!"
Edea turned as her students pointed to Roko who shuddered under Edea's merciless gaze.
"I don't know who that is." Edea said.
"He's the special guest student!"
"Never heard of him."
"But-"
"Now." Edea frowned, "Can anyone tell me how magic works in this world?"
The class begrudgingly settled down into a distasteful murmur as Edea waited for someone to answer, "Anyone? Helena, you were feeling very talkative a moment earlier. You answer."
"Oh! Um..." Helena stood up nervously, "Uhh...magic is an action drawn from mana that has been tied to an activation word or phrase."
"What kinds of words?"
"Huh? Umm...well..."
"Well, Ms. Helena?"
"I...I don't know if I can fully answer that question."
"And why is that?"
"Because...I haven't mastered intentional casting."
"That's right." Edea said as she motioned for Helena to sit down, "Spells are powerful reactions drawn from mana and tied to phrases. The Fire spell is attached to the word 'Fire'. And without proper training, any invocation of the word 'Fire' will cause the spell to activate, regardless if you intended to cast the spell or not. That's why for the unskilled mages, certain nicknames have been employed to allow discussion of the spell without accidentally casting it. For the four cornerstone elements; Fire, Water, Earth and Wind, you refer to them as Burn, Douse, Quake and Gust. Magic is a language that cannot be spoken without consequence. A lazy or foolish mage will choose to never learn intentional casting and if so, they will find a good portion of their own language barred from use if they do not want to fling spells haphazardly. Now do you understand why mastering magic is so important?"
A small chorus of 'yes'es echoed around the classroom.
"The more spells you accumulate, the more you have to work around your own spells in everyday life. Now then. How many of you intend to learn intentional casting?"
Everyone in the classroom raised their hand though many of them looked unwilling to do so.
"And how many of you have achieved intentional casting?"
All the hands dropped.
"And you all still feel ready to call yourself mages?" Edea shook her head disgustedly.
"But ma'am." One of the students spoke up, "Do we really have to learn intentional casting for each spell?"
"Of course you do!" Edea snapped, "Just because each individual spell requires requires specific training to attain intentional casting doesn't mean you can slack off! Or do you just intend to live using magephrases for the rest of your life? 'Hey buddy, can you pass the douse?' Is that what you want to look like?"
"It's not that weird." Roko heard the girl in front of him mutter.
"What was that?!"
"N-Nothing, ma'am!"
"Do you think magical accidents are some sort of rarity? Everyday, one in three mages accidentally uses their castphrase, causing some sort of magical incident! Look at the people next to you! One of these people will one day miscast their spell. That is if it isn't you!"
Edea took a deep breath, calming down enough to stop yelling but still glared contemptibly at everyone she saw. "Now then." She said, "Let's take time now to do some independent studies. Practice your intentional casting or not. I'll just be here if any of you have questions."
"I have a question." Roko found himself standing up with his hand raised, much to everyone and his own surprise.
"Yes?" Edea replied as if Roko was any one of her normal student.
"What about Silent Casting?"
Roko heard a sharp intake of breath from the entire classroom. Even Edea's eyes widened in response to his question. Roko quickly got the impression that he had touched upon something forbidden.
"Never learn Silent Casting." Edea replied with none of her furious passion. Her answer was plain, precise and clear, "You...what's your name?"
"R-Roko."
"What kind of spells do you know, Roko?"
"I..." Roko paused. Given all the information he had just been given, he hesitated to unintentionally cast it as the teacher had strongly railed against only moments ago.
"Go on." Edea spread open her arms, inviting Roko to cast his spell, "I can handle whatever you have to cast."
"...Just one spell, ma'am." Roko gulped, "Scan."
Just as he suspected, his vision was suddenly assaulted with information. Even closing his eyes did little to blunt the stream of information that Roko was not prepared to receive.
"Scan?" Edea mused, "That isn't a spell that I'm familiar with. What kind of spell is that?"
"It..." Roko pushed the new information off to a corner of his mind, "It allows me to view information on my target."
"What kind of information?"
"Their stats. Their available spells. Their weakness. And..." Roko paused, "Their name."
Edea nodded knowingly, "I see. Then I'll ask you keep that kind of information to yourself."
"Yes ma'am." Roko nodded and quietly sat back down.
"As for the rest of you, practice your intentional casting til the end of the period." Edea addressed the room, "I'm letting you know now that if you do not achieve intentional casting for each of your spells, you're not going to pass no matter how many or what kind of spell you learn."
As the class broke off into their own cliques to begin their work, Roko looked down at his notebook. Silently, he wrote down some of the information his scan on Edea had given him.
Level: 99
Strength: 11
Dexterity: 14
Constitution: 13
Intelligence: 250
Wisdom: 170
Charisma: 17
Spells: None.